Earth Culture of Origin

Alternate Names / Spellings

Greek for the Egyptian god "Apep," known as Apep the Destroyer, Enemy of Ra.

Presides Over

Evil and darkness

Personal Symbols

A great serpent or crocodile

Earth Mythological References

Apophis was the chief antagonist of the sun-god, Ra. Considered to be the personification of darkness, evil and chaos, he battled against the light of Ra. Occasionally Apophis would prevail (resulting in a solar eclipse), but eventually Ra triumphed, slaying Apophis, dismembering his body and burning it. He was depicted in Greek and Egyptian mythology as a serpent god who lived in the depths of the celestial Nile. He is sometimes associated with Seth, god of chaos. He was never worshipped.

Stargate References

A year after Ra was killed (Stargate: The Movie), Apophis, accompanied by his Serpent Guard, came through Earth’s Stargate and abducted a member of the SGC. He subsequently travelled to Abydos, where he captured Sha’re, Daniel Jackson’s wife, and her brother, Skaara. Sha’re was implanted with the Goa'uld Ammonet, Apophis’s consort, while Skaara became host to Klorel, Apophis’s son (Children of the Gods, S1).

Apophis was as keen to secure new technologies as the SGC, leading him to cross paths with SG-1 on the Nox homeworld in pursuit of the invisible Fenri. The seemingly helpless Nox outsmarted both Apophis and SG-1, returning everyone through the Stargate alive, cheating Apophis of his revenge on Teal'c, Teal'c of his revenge on his false god and Daniel and Jack of information on the whereabouts of Sha're and Ska'ara. (The Nox, S1)

Now Earth’s major enemy, Apophis planned to launch an attack with two motherships, one commanded by his son Klorel. Daniel Jackson's experiences in the alternate reality (There But For The Grace, S1) had left him with the co-ordinates to the world on which Apophis was constructing his ships. The attack was thwarted when SG-1 infiltrated his and Klorel’s ships and destroyed them (Within the Serpent’s Grasp, S1 and Serpent’s Lair, S2).

Apophis took his revenge for his defeat and his greatly weakened position among the system lords by brainwashing Teal’c’s son, Ry’ac, and turning him against his father and SG-1 (Family, S2). He used Rya'c as a Trojan Horse in another attempt to destroy the Earth with a weapon of mass destruction implanted in the boy's tooth.

Apophis and Sha’re/Ammonet subsequently had a child (Shifu). Sha’re persuaded Apophis to believe the child had been taken by his arch enemy, Heru’ur. In fact, Sha’re had ensured the child’s safety by having Kasuf, her father, hide him on Abydos (Secrets, S2). As the child of two Goa'uld hosts, Shifu is a Harcesis, possessing all the genetic knowledge of the Goa'uld. Because of this knowledge, he will be hunted down as a threat to the Goa'uld System Lords.

With many enemies, Apophis was eventually captured and tortured by Sokar. He managed to persuade SG-1 to take him to Earth where he died from his injuries. Apophis seemed to know Daniel Jackson intimately given the Goa'uld insistence that nothing of the host survived. Ammonet appeared to have shared freely with Apophis Sha're's memories of her husband. Before his death, his host, a scribe from ancient Egypt, briefly came to the fore, expressing his trauma at having spent millennia as a Goa'uld host. Daniel's compassion for the tormented host led him to perform the appropriate funeral rites and ease the man's passing. But Apophis’s body was then sent back to Sokar to prevent an attack on Earth. Sokar revived Apophis in a sarcophagus, only to torture him again (Serpent’s Song, S2).

Having escaped from Sokar, Apophis ended up on the prison world, Netu, where he hid his identity while planning to destroy Sokar (Jolinar’s Memories/The Devil You Know, S3). His ambush on his rival system lord was ultimately successful, leaving Apophis in command of Sokar's vast empire.

He later expanded his domain and his tactical capabilities still further when he destroyed his enemy Heru’ur and took over his ships (Serpent’s Venom, S4). The fleet was later blown up when he attempted to attack the Tok’ra base on Vorash, with SG-1 turning the Vorash sun into a supernova (Exodus, S4).

Still Apophis survived, but was catapulted into another galaxy by the supernova’s shockwave. With his ship overtaken by Replicators, he crashed into Delmak and is believed to be dead (Enemies, S5).

Despite Apophis’ apparent death, memories of his former god still linger with Teal’c. On a battlefield on a distant planet, Teal’c struggles to keep himself and his mentor Bra’tac alive by sharing his larval Goa’uld. In a dream state, he is haunted by an image of Apophis trying to kill him (Changeling, S6).